FOOTBALL: Hill School loses MAPL opener to Peddie

HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. — With the opening of their Mid-Atlantic Prep League schedule Friday, both the Hill and Peddie football teams were presented with a clean slate and a new start to their seasons.

When the game was over, it was Hill that had its loss column chalked up as Peddie rolled to a surprisingly easy 35-7 win.

Both teams had been roughed up in their non-conference games, coming into Friday’s matchup with identical 0-3 records. While Peddie head coach Frank deLaurentis felt he saw some promise in the early losses, Hill coach Grey Simpson could only lament that his team could not recover from its early misfortunes.

“We’ve been decimated with injuries,” Simpson said after the loss. “We needed some of the other seniors to step up and that didn’t happen. We lost not just our best players but also our emotional leaders so it was like a double whammy.

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“We talked a lot about us being 0-0 (in the MAPL) and having a clean slate and we came out flat. It was disappointing.”

Peddie, on the other hand, looked anything but flat and took control of the game from the first play from scrimmage, jumping out to a 21-0 halftime lead thanks to a punishing ground game, and never looking back.

“Those first three teams we played were way ahead of us,” deLaurentis said of the earlier start his team’s opponents had. “But in those games we played great first halves. The big talk today was that we were playing a team that was in the same boat as us. They don’t have a lot of subs and they’ve had some key injuries. The question was, ‘Can Peddie finish?’”

Peddie’s offensive strategy wasn’t fancy and it showed from the first series. DeLaurentis called running back Rory Merklinger’s number on the first eight plays. He had plenty of reason to. Merklinger broke off back-to-back 17-yard runs to start the game and added 24 more on the subsequent six carries before he was given a rest.

Two plays later, Ron Ryder gave Peddie a 7-0 lead with a 3-yard touchdown run.

While Hill could generate no offense, gaining only 22 yards total in the first half, the Rams also seemed powerless to stop the Falcons, who got the ball right back and marched 65 yards up the field on 15 plays for a touchdown and 14-0 lead.

Things even fell apart for Hill on special teams as Peddie increased its lead to 21-0 when Lucas Niglio fielded a Hill punt and took it 68 yards for another Falcon score.

When Merklinger opened the second half with a 21-yard gain and Ryder followed immediately with a 41-yard touchdown run, Peddie led 28-0 and the game was, for all intents and purposes, over.

Hill answered Peddie’s fourth touchdown with one of its own, providing the only offensive bright spot all day for the Rams.

After catching a break when Peddie roughed the punter at the Hill 36, Ram quarterback Grant Smith ran the ball 24 yards and then completed a pair of passes for another 23. The final toss was a perfect 15-yard touchdown strike to a heavily covered Seth Regensburg.

“He’s got all the talent in the world,” Simpson said of Smith. “Good football players make plays. He’s a heck of an athlete and he needs to make plays.”

While Simpson is left searching for answers before facing its next MAPL opponent, Hun, Peddie is looking ahead to being in the hunt for a conference title.

“The kids have got some confidence now,” deLaurentis said. “They were able to score and they have to feel good about that. We know the MAPL is going to be a tough league. Next week we have Lawrenceville and we’ll see what happens.”